


Trains, Planes and More Trains

by RABel



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: A bit of gore, Actual Murder, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Kidnapping, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, PTSD, Slightly slow burn, Somewhat Graphic Violence, absolutely nothing to definitely something, beatings, dream murder, horrible talk of trains, military to civilian life, moderately good talk of the military, people get hurt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-05 09:09:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13384647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RABel/pseuds/RABel
Summary: When A horrible accident causes Hux to be medically discharged from the Air-Force, he's forced to drop his wanderlust inducing job as a Loadmaster to become a train attendant. His day-to-day would drag him to hell if it wasn't for the oddly charming stranger he gets to see every morning and night as the man makes his way to work. The only thing that could make his life better would be if the man would ever talk to him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and thank you for reading, I will write warnings at the beginning or chapters if I think they are warranted but I might not warn for everything so mind that. Most/all the chapters will be unedited till I can get back to it or till I find someone to edit them for me so mind that as well.

_ Everything was normal, the bird landed with grace as always, the cargo was taken and now Hux was off to the local watering hole with the non-American American flight chief that called herself Caesar to -as she quoted it- ‘drink the gay away’. Laughing and babbling inaudible words in the jeep as they started down the sandy road to the drop off point outside of camp. Screaming, metal screeching as it bends and buckles, glass shattering as gravity shifts around and around him. Everything’s too bright, too loud and too much for him. Horrible animalistic screams filled his ears. _

 

Only stopping when Hux snapped up from his bed and stopped screaming himself. Cold sweat coated ever inch of his skin, cooling him rapidly as he sat in the pitch black of his bedroom. The only noise being his labored breaths till his bedside clock flicked to three and Toto’s  _ Africa  _ started barring on its small speaker.

 

With a grumble, he slammed a hand down on the snooze button before getting up from bed and starting on his daily routine. Everything overplayed and methodical at this point. Hux had lived in the city ever since he’d been medically discharged from the Air Force. The life of traveling all over the world free of cost, the only work he had to do being order other people to do things for him. It was too good to be true, two deployments in and everything went head over heels - best part being he wasn’t even on his plane when he blown to hell and back.

 

Downing the rest of his scolding coffee, he pulled on his coat and pushed his keys into his pocket before heading out of his apartment and heading to work. The wind at street level was abusive but subtled by the other office buildings that stood around the little pink art Deco styled apartment he lived in. Combing his bright hair back from his face, he plopped down into the worn leather seat of his blue ‘74 Honda Civic, turning the key three times before it started.

 

With the clothes he arrived in secured in his locker, he smoothed out his attendants uniform for the third time before checking his hair once more as he tucked on his hat and walked into the break room. Caesar sat at the table, brown hair pulled back into a knot of a bun showing off the burns that marred up part of her cheek to the back of her neck, taking some of her hair, before trickling down onto her shoulder, disaping under her work jumper’s collar. Her sleeves were pulled up to show the other small cuts and scars that marked up her forearms like the ones that sketched across most of Hux’s own body. She stared down into her coffee, lost in the endless black before her head snapped up when the door clicked shut behind Hux. 

 

“Morning.” Hux offered and only got a grunt in return, “Bad night.”

 

“Reba would stop compiling about shite I don’t even remember any more.” She sighed before drinking her coffee and wincing at the taste, “I know I’m the landlady but I doubt that had anything to do with her boyfriend.”

 

Hux humed in response as he pick up one of the donuts from the nearly empty box, “Doesn't surprise me, she comes to you with  _ every _ problem she has.”

 

Caesar huffed a laugh as she sat her mug down in the sink, “And that’s why I got a second job, she can’t ruin my day when I already do it in the tunnels.”

 

He rolled his eyes at her, “Perfect sense, have Mitaka mess everything for you.”

 

Caesar waved him off, “I’m in no need of you're logic Mr. I-sit-on-my-ass-all-day-and-irritate-people.”

 

“I don’t try to.” Caesar only laughed at him as she started out of the break room and onto duty.

 

The rest of the day went much like all the rest; people coming in complaining, people going out complaining, people asking for things from him like he could pull them out of his ass and just hadn’t for everyone in front of them because they were the  _ chosen one _ . The same people passed him by everyday and night, coming and going and not paying him any attention till they need a scapegoat for their problems. There was only one of them that he had even one word with for what had to be the past three years; a tall man that was quite built, with a halo of dark hair around his head making his skin just that bit paler to let his dark doe-shaped eyes look that bit darker. He wore their clothes of a businessman when it’s his casual Friday everyday and is always on his phone whenever he past, if not that then talking with someone who’s much to close to him for it to be decent in public. And the person’s never the same.

 

It’s around eight when Hux is pulled away from the book he’d been reading on his phone by his two way radios buzzing to life before Caesar came through on it. “The north lines are off, anyone looking to get on the G is shite outta luck. Their being redirected to the west bound.”

 

Without completely pulling himself away from his phone to answer back, “Copy.” Just as he was about to zone out in his book once more when there was the echo of heavy steps coming up from down the stairs behind his booth that made him look up completely from his phone. Coming down the stairs was the man that he’d seen the hundreds of times before, dark hair pulled back into a mess of a bun as he looked down at his phone with a scowl before putting it in his pocket and grumbling past Hux’s booth.

 

This had been the latest Hux had seen this guy out, he had though he had just missed him passing at his normal time, too caught up in his book to see him. But by the muffled swears and angry puffs, the man was most definitely standing there waiting for a train that was being rerouted to the next station over. Clearing his throat, Hux leaned up out of his booth window.

 

“Excuse me, sir.” The man turned to look at him, the anger that sat heavy in his eyes fading away almost immediately, “I apologize for the inconvenience, sir, but the G’s been rerouted to the west bound station just a ways down that way.”Hux offered with the slight smile he used with ever person he addressed. 

 

The man gave a small smile back before saying, “Thanks.” before heading back from where he came from. Hux was stuck where he was hanging out of his booth, playing the one word the man had said to him over and over again through his head. His voice had been much deeper then he’d expected, smooth like silk. Hux shook himself from his little daydream when his radio buzzed again and Caesar came over it once more.

 

“Hey, so, since ya can just close up shop now … would ya mind bringin’ the first aid kit down here.”

 

Hux pick up his radio, “Why, if I may ask?”

 

There was a cackle from the other side of the radio before she spoke again, “Nope, get your ass down here and find out yourself. Caesar out.”

 

With a sigh Hux pushed himself up from his seat and closed up his section, putting up a sign on the gate saying the track was out of service before walking back to the breakroom and picking up the first aid kit and heading down the back passage to where Caesar and Mikata would be. Getting his mind off of the man that he didn’t even know the name of but was already falling over his feet for would be the best. It was only a smile, it meant nothing, he probably smiled at everyone. But what if he didn’t? He doesn’t even know you. But what if he’s in the same boat as Hux is? None of this should matter, he’s no one important, he doesn't mean anything and why should he? 

 

What he really needs right now is a drink, a really  _ really  _ big drink.

\---

Caesar watch him with judging eyes as he down if fifth cup of scotch, promptly finishing the whole bottle off as he slammed his glass down of the countertop. They were in Hux’s apartment, Caesar watching  _ Say Yes to the Dress _ as she sat next to Hux at his bar as he complains about a man he’s never met before. All the while, Hux drowned his sorrows in a glass that was now empty and there wasn’t a bottle close enough to refill it.

 

“He said ‘ _ thanks _ ’, not ‘ _ hello _ ’ or ‘ _ how are you _ ’, just ‘ _ thanks _ ’.” Hux said throwing his hands up over his head in exasperation.

 

“You told him directions, why would that mean he should start a conversation with you.” Caesar huffed, paying attention but not enough to know what the conversation was after it’s done.

 

Hux scoffed at her, “Are you saying that I’m not important enough to talk too?”

 

“Hux, you're over thinking things.”

 

“You always say that whenever you don’t want to listen to me.” He pouted resting his head down on his arms.

 

Caesar sighed, “I always say that when ya get plastered and start whining about stupid shit like complaining about some guy not noticing you even though you never gave he any reason ta.”

 

Hux looked up at her, head perking up like a puppy that had just noticed she had food in her hands. “How do I do that?”

 

Caesar let out a loud long groan, tossing her head back before looking Hux in the eyes. “Go to bed, Hux, you're drunk.”

 

She left after that, leaving Hux with a blanket around his shoulders and a glass of water on the side table next to where she laid him on the couch. The only noise was the muffled sounds of a rapidly heating argument Caesar was having with Reba about her sink. Everything went dark after a while and only the sound rumble of Caesar overly loud voice cracked through his awareness, transforming into the low soft tone of the man from the train station. 

 

He was fall, tumbling rolling over a cliff and he just couldn’t get a grip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me at [FrackenArt](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/)


	2. Chapter 2

Hux is sitting on a particularly snow covered park bench watching stupid birds fight each other over something that looked like a bottle cap. He was bundled head to toe with only the tip of his cherry red nose peeking out through the knit cap and scarf. Hux had no idea why he was out there watching dumb birds, but he had nowhere else to go so he sat and waited … for something.

 

Around him, the world kept turning with families and couples walking through the park around him, laughing and have fun and make stupid faces at each other- why was he so pissy today? A woman sat next to him on the bench, but he only scooted further from her when she tried to make conversation and she quickly left. He was still in his head about finding the source of his annoyance to notice the crushing of snow as someone else approached him and flung themself down on the other half of the bench before spreading out like they owned it.

 

When Hux turned to case a scrutinizing glance at the person, he was met with the pretty face that he’d wanted to meet on the streets ever since he talked to him in the train station. “Hello.” Is the only word he can get out through his shock. 

 

Kylo, who had been fixated with the birds like Hux had been before turns to look at him, squinting at him before giving a lopsided smile, “Hi.” he looked at Hux a little harder before adding, “I never took you as a bird watching person.”

 

Hux turned back to the birds, “I’m not really, I don’t even know why I’m out here.” He turned back to Kylo and opened his mouth to ask why he was out there but stopped once he saw what Kylo was wearing. Tight grey jogging pants with a red stripe down the side that disappeared under a lightweight jacket to match the pants. A grey had covered his head and his long hair was tied back in a small ponytail though bits fell out to fall over his rosey cheeks and in front of his dark chocolat eyes-

 

“Hux? You there buddy?” He snapped out of his little day dream to Kylo leaning forward and waving a hand in front of his face.

 

“Sorry, I tend to get like this, this time of the year.” Hux huffed before he went to take a sip of his coffee.

 

Kylo angled himself on the bench to lean his head on his hand while facing Hux bodily and looking far more interested in him than anyone else have been. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

 

“Because it’s February,” He said as if it was obvious but Kylo just kept staring at him expectantly, “Singles awareness month?”

 

Something clicked in Kylo’s head than, a large smile spread across his face and he inched in a bit closer to Hux with a little twinkle in his eye. “Is that so? And that makes you a grump because you're …” He trailed off waitting for Hux to finish the statement for him and scooting in closer to him as he did.

 

Hux swallowed around the growing lump in his throat, “This is all a very roundabout way of asking if I’m single.”

 

Kylo still scooted closer to him, “And are you?” Hux looked at him flatly before he added, “Not to be rude or anything.”

 

With a sigh, Hux huffed, “Yes.” before facing back at the birds and thinking about how he was going to get Caesar to spend her next paycheck on drinks for him.

 

Kylo got right up close to him than clearing his throat to the side before suddenly checking it and turning to smile at Hux. “So no one would want to kill me if I were to, I don’t know, ask you out to dinner tonight?”

 

Hux hiffed at the comment, ready to go on a rant about how no man had been able to put up with him since the incident that left his night filled with screams so if anything his past boyfriends would have giving him up without a fight, but caught himself, eyes going wide. “No.” was the only word he could force out of his mouth.

 

“And you wouldn’t mind at all?”

 

“Of course not.”

 

Kylo pulled out his phone, “Perfect, mind if I get your number?”

 

Hux nearly through his coffee all over the god-forsaken birds as he rushed to get his phone out of his pocket, “Course.”

 

He didn’t think his heart could beat any faster than it was at that moment, he felt like he was going to die right there and than for cardiac arrest for his heart just giving out from working so much. Kylo smile was so soft and kind, his laugh making something flutter in his stomach, and if his thighs had anything to say about his fitness, Hux was in for something quite nice under that coat. Hux was so lost in Kylo’s eyes that he nearly missed his little brunch meeting he had with Caesar -which was just a cover up for her making Hux clean her apartment instead of pay his whole rent- at 9.

 

“See you around 7-ish? I’ll stop by your place to pick you up.” Kylo said as Hux got up to leave.

 

“Yeah, see you then.”

Hux wanted to scream he was so excited.

\--

Hux did scream he was so excited.

 

“Fucken hell, Hux. Why am I waking up to a bloody Howler monkey?” Caesar asked rubbing to the sleep from her eyes and she flung herself to her couch. She wore blue onesie covered in a dino patter that road up a bit above her ankles and was zipped up to her neck. Three Whippets followed her out and immediately surrounded her on the couch once she sat, all looking at Hux with confused expressions.

 

“I got a date!” Hux said sign-song like as he put out his hands like he was showing himself off. “And it’s with a hot guy and I am the luckiest man alive!”

 

Caesar looked over her shoulder at him and huffed a laugh, “All other stalkers around the world envy you right now.”

 

Hux tisked and walked forward into her apartment grabbing something from the fridge before turning back to look at Caesar. “I am not even close to being a stalker, Caesar. People have done worse and been married for years. ”

 

She hummed in agreement, “That’s true, I full on followed my first girlfriend for like two year before asking her out. Then again, that was Secondary school and she rejected me immediately.”

 

“You're also a loon, so I can see why she did.”

 

“Hey now,” Caesar said, her brow furrowing a bit, “This is about you, not me. My love life is none of your concern but yours is apparently mine so get on with it.”

 

Hux went over to the couch and sat next to caesar before spilling his guts about what happened in the park.Caesar made no sign that she was overly interesting in any bit of what Hux was saying but  he still went over every detail of the situation carefully, more for himself than for her. He wanted to make sure that Kylo was really interested in him and going over everything that happened and loving every detail about it.

 

By the end it was far past 6 o’clock and Caesar was barely hanging on to the little bit of wakefulness she had at the beginning of the conversation, all the dogs were passed out on the floor and Hux gone to the sink for a drink at least eight times. After a time, Hux’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he checked it with a passing glance before doing a double take and launching himself off Caesar’s couch and heading for her door.

 

“For Christ sake mate!” Caesar bolt up from the couch on instinct before watching Hux swing out of her apparent and nearly fall over himself to get into his own. “What ’sit than?” she yelled after him.

 

“I lost track of time!”

 

“And?”

 

“Kylo’s here!”

 

Hux did a quick freshen up and onceover of himself. Kylo hadn’t seen what he was wearing so the khakis and white button down should -hopefully- be enough and, toss in the black pinstripe sports coat, he actually  _ did _ look low-key classy. As Hux grabbed his large wool duster , he turned to leave his apartment and ran full on into Caesar.

 

He took a step back, a bit dazed, before looking down at her in her onsie and puffy neon blue coat before asking, “What are you doing?” 

 

“I was going to walk the dogs, thought I’d walked down with you and check out the eye-sore you’ll be bringing around now.”She yawned, the three Whippets sitting calmly at her side.

 

With a sigh, Hux brushed past her, “Just don’t fuck this up for me, alright?”

 

Caesar laughed, “That all on you now, mate.”

 

They walked down to the lobby and out the front door before stopping dead in there tracks at the end of the steps to the sidewalk. A dark blue Mercedes maybach was sitting outside with a very familiar figure leaning against it. Kylo gave a sly smile pushing himself off his car to step to the curb and Hux could feel his face turning red already.

 

Caesar looked from Kylo to his car before turning to Hux with the most knowing smile she could. She said nothing but her goodbye though before pulling her dogs off down the street and leaving Hux alone with Kylo … and his car. Hux pulled on his collar and cleared his throat softly before smiling up at the other man.

 

“You ready?” Kylo asked as he stepped up to Hux, smiling down at him with far too kind of eyes.

 

Hux nodded quickly at him and Kylo reached back and opened the door to the Mercedes for him. Slipping into the passenger seat, Hux looked around the interior and appreciating the heated leather seats and the slof red underglow that lit just enough to let him see all the bits of the controls. He seat back comfortably in his seat as he pulled the seatbelt across himself and buckled it, something about all of this feeling like it was almost … meant to be.

 

Whether that was true or not, Hux sure could get use to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me at [FrackenArt](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is all unedited, I just finished writing it and I wanted t post before heading to bed so I hop it's not too bad. Night everyone!

The scarf around Hux's neck covered most of the bottom of his face as he sat with his headphones in each ear, reading from the  _ National Geographic _ Caesar had leant him when there was a light knock on his window. He didn’t hear it first off, the knock falling perfectly with the beat of the music, till it turned more into a pounding and made him jump slightly from his seat. Hux threw down his magazine before quickly pulling out his earbuds and sliding his window open. 

 

“Hello, how may I help you?” He said on what felt like instice before his eyes leveled on a  _ very _ defined chest. Blinking twice he finally turned up his face to find a stranger looking back at him with a soft smile on his lips. “The tracks still out till tomorrow.”

 

Something thoughtful yet knowing crossed the man’s face than, “Why are you here than?”

 

Hux was a bit taken aback by the question -he, himself, had been asking himself that question all day- he let out a little sigh, “I’m being paid to be.” 

 

The man looked like he wanted Hux to have said something else but let out a little laugh anyway. “Sound pretty nice.”

 

“Of course, that is till everyone starts blaming their problems on me like I alone control all the  trains in the station.” Hux almost immediately regret every word that came out of his mouth. He was getting far to friendly with a man he didn’t even know the name of.

 

Apparently, the man didn’t think so thought, he huffed out another low laugh and leaned to the small ledge outside of Hux’s window like he had been doing it all his life. “Ah, yes, the glories of working in public service. The customer's always right and bullshit like that.” He huffed to himself once more before turning to look at Hux with soft brown eyes, “I can’t believe I’ve been going on this track for nearly four years and I’ve never gotten your name.”

 

Hux had to shake himself slightly -where had that come from?- he swallowed the lump in his throat and put out a hand, “Armitage Hux.” he offered.

 

The man’s hand was firm and warm in his own when he gave one curt shake, “Kylo Ren.” His hand linger a little longer than one should -- but Hux wasn’t about to say anything about it.

 

“It’s nice to finally met you Mr. Ren.” Hux said with a small smile.

 

Kylo Ren waved him off, “Kylo’s fine, and it’s nice to meet you too, Armitage -- if I may?”

 

“Of course.”

 

It all seemed to fairy-tale to be actually happening, but it was, it definitely was. His cheeks must have been nearly the color of his hair for how hot they got the more and more he and Kylo talked. The conversations were slightly robotic, both of them testing waters and hoping a puddle wouldn’t turn into a lake. They went from the day to ancient Rome and back again in what felt like minutes and Hux had no idea how he was able to hold the talk at all, he barely even knew what they were talking about only focusing on how Kylo’s eyes would light up on certain topics and how he’d smile at others.

 

Hux never wanted it the end, though he knew for sure it wouldn’t last forever. Conversation always had their ends and topics could only be dissected and looked at so much before the same things started to be repeated. When the topic of the relevance of time was brought up -how, Hux had no idea- Kylo seemed to snap out a sort of daze he had lost himself in and quickly checked to time on his phone.

 

“Shit!” He cursed to himself before turning back to Hux, “Sorry to end this so abruptly but I’m about to miss my ride home. Think we can continue this some other time?”

 

“I don’t see why not.” Hux said, not wanting to be to straight forward with his yes.

 

Kylo smiled wide at that and gave a small wave and ‘good bye’ before trotting off and leaving Hux in wonderment if he was actually dreaming or not. His eyes dropped to the hand that had shook Kylo’s which laid in his lap when something caught his eye. Caesar’  _ National Geographic  _ laid upside down on the ground with it’s pages open to the dirty floor, discarded like a piece of trash, a rather loved piece of trash.

 

“Oh cry.” He quickly reached down to swoop it off the ground and brushed it off before flipping through the pages to make sure everything was fine with them before setting it down on his counter and looking at the cover like it would giving him answers to what just happened. The elephants offered no such comfort though and Hux decide now would be a nice time to take a break and gather his thoughts slightly.

\--

Caesar sat wide eyed at the table with a donut in her mouth and a coffee in one hand. Mitaka paced back and forth in front of her confessing something she hadn’t been listening to and seemingly panicking about it. He turned back to her, finally, after finishing some big shpeal she hadn’t caught any of.

 

“So what do you think?”He asked, eyes bright and a small smile playing across his face.

 

Caesar bit off her chunk of donut and swallowed before answering, “Yep.”

 

Mitaka’s face fell, “‘ _ yep _ ’ what?” 

 

He looked about as confused as she was at that point. She was about to down the rest of her coffee and go running when Hux walked in with rosey cheeks and a bit too happy of a look on his face. Caesar raised a brow at him as he set next to her at the table, placing his hands neatly lock together on the table before turning to look at her expectantly. Mitaka let out a long heavy sigh before grabbing is jacket and giving a hurt ‘goodbye’ to the both of them and leaving.

 

Once he left the room, Hux nearly turned giddy. “Guess what?”

 

“That one old broad that always complains about the seats in the train finally keeled over?” Caesar offered, not knowing what else to say.

 

“No,” Hux sounded almost offended, “You know that guy that I’ve been talking about for a while?”

 

“Yeah, the one you drank over for not noticing you more even though you didn’t know his name. What about him?”

 

Hux grabbed her hands as if to keep her there -- which was differently out of character, “Not anymore, I have a name to the beautiful face now.”

 

Caesar gasped fakely, “Congrats, you can now function like every other adult human person now.”

 

“Caesar, shut up and be happy for me.” He said as his expression dropped to the cool one she was use to getting when she came to collect his rent.

 

She shrugged, “I am … in a way I guess.” Hux’s expression grew darker, “What?! You want me to buy a round of drinks or something?”

 

“That would be nice. Make it O’Neil’s at 10.” and with that, Hux grabbed a donut for himself and walked out of the room, leaving Caesar with a gaping mouth and a rejection on her tongue. She could just not show, leave Hux waiting with a tab but that always seemed to be worse on her wallet than just buying him the origin drinks and being done with it. Caesar let out a heavy breath before grabbing up the new paper from the table and covering her face with it as she leaned back in her chair, all of this was making her head spin a bit more than she’d like.

\-- 

At five past 10, Caesar walked into O’Neil’s shucking off her too colorful windbreaker to hang on the rack and show the sweat shirt underneath that looked like a jazz solo paper cup. She took the seat next to Hux and promptly order them both drink -him a HighBall and her a Rootbeer- before turning off her phone and setting it down on the bartop between them.

 

She looked up to his and laced her finger together in front of herself before saying, “I’m all ears.”

 

It was like the first time they’d meet at the America’s bar in Qatar when finally got the promotion he had wanted to a year only to be deployed a week before he’d get it so he’d miss out and have to wait for what seemed to be another year. She had sat there the entire time calmly nodding along with everything and understand every word that came out of his mouth till the very end when she pardaned herself before asking who he was. After a short introduction, they ended up on the same plane and spent the rest of the deployment talking about the unfairest of life and checking out S.Ps from the back end of a C-130.

 

He rested the side of his head on his fist and let out what could be considered a loving sigh as Caesar took a drink of her soda. “His name is Kylo.”

 

She let out a little laugh that turned into a hum a mother would make at a child, “That’s cute, does he have a motorcycle?”

 

“Caesar, be serious.” He huffed giving a light slap to her shoulder. 

 

She laughed, “As long as he is.”

 

“Please?”

 

She sighed, “Fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me at [FrackenArt](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/)


	4. Chapter 4

It must have been no more than half an hour before they got to the restaurant but Hux’s view made it seem like five seconds. Before he knew it, Kylo was opening Hux’s door and greeting he with a soft warm smile that made Hux’s heart leap into his throat. He didn’t even notice the restaurant before Kylo left his field of view and he stepped out of the car and the the harsh neon sigh of a small mom-and-pop diner that looked to be empty all but the old waitress behind the from counter and the cook.

 

Kylo walked them up to the door and held it open for Hux before sliding in behind him and ushering them over to a vintage looking puffy red booth. The waitress walked over once they were both settled and dropped down two menus before asking for drinks and walking off. Hux watched after the woman before letting his eyes drift to the rest of the diner to find  _ no one _ but themselves here. He turned back to Kylo to find him looking back at him with a knowing smirk.

 

“Is it normal this slow?” Hux asked first, not wanting to get too ahead or himself.

 

Kylo shook his head, dropping the menu from in front of him to lean over the table and smile at Hux, “Nope, normally this place is so crowded you can barely sit down.”

 

Hux leaned on the table as well, brushing his fingers across the bottom of his chin, “Did … did you buy this place out for a night.”

 

Before Kylo could answer, the waitress came back and dropped off the drinks before pulling out her little notepad and asked what they wanted to eat. “The specials are the beer battered fish, which comes with two sides, and the 5oz stake that also comes with two sides.”

 

Hux looked at the menu once again, biting on the inside of his lower lip before saying, “Do you serve breakfast all day?”

 

The waitress let out a little fond sigh before saying, “Yes.”

 

“I’ll get the pancakes with hash-browns and bacon, please.”

 

The waitress wrote everything down before turning to Kylo with the same tired look she gave Hux, “And for you?”

 

“I’ll have what he’s having.” The waitress huffed a laugh, shaking her head before collecting their menus and walking off telling them their meal would be out shortly. 

 

Kylo looked at Hux with a raised brow after watching the waitress walk away. Hux tried to hid his face at least a bit with his hand, willing the blush from his face best he could but failing horribly. Playing with his straw, Kylo leaned forward once more, his eyes leveling on Hux and making the heat raise high in his cheeks.

 

“Miss breakfast?”

 

“Do you have a problem with the food choice?”

 

Kylo let out a little laugh that made something in Hux’s chest twist. “No, nothing like that, I just though it was … cute.”

 

Hux looked down at his drink than, gulping down half of his water before coughing and turning back to Kylo, “Yes well …” he tried his hardest to try and get to a topic that wouldn’t make him burn like the sun, “You still haven’t told me why or how you were able to buy out the whole diner.”

 

Kylo shrugged, “I only wanted the night to be you and me, and if I have the resources for it; why not.”

 

Hux thought back to the car and how classy it was, than to what was this now. He didn’t know what he got himself into but he wasn’t exactly too concerned about finding out. Something about all of this told him to just sit back and enjoy it. But all the niceness seemed to be hiding something else. Not wanting to make himself paranoid, Hux decide to push all of this thoughts to the back of his head and just enjoy himself this time around.

 

“And, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you get the … resources?” Hux felt like he might be stepping past his bounds a little.

 

Kylo took a sip of his drink and leaned back in his seat giving him a sharp smirk, “That was be thanks to me job.”

 

“And that is?” Hux quickly added, “You know what I do for a living so I think you owe me at least that much.”

 

With a little laugh, Kylo answered, “I’m a … a pest exterminator -in a sense of things- the boss I’d like to add.”

 

Hux was quite for a time, eyes narrowing at Kylo but a small smile still pulled at his mouth. “What do you mean ‘in a sense of things’?” 

 

Kylo only gave him a sly look before their food was dropped over with a rack filled with different types of syrups and jams. Kylo immediately started to dig into his food propping Hux to do the same. They ate a good bit, stopping a few times to drink and talk once again, what they had been talking about dropping completely to be replaced by other mundane things. Kylo had a talent for getting Hux off his current line of thought and on to another one, he seemed to be able to do it without even talking half the time. Something about those damn eyes, something about those damn … everything, if he’s honest with himself.

 

He was so lost, but it all felt so right to be where he was. Hux’s mind was racing, a whirl of a bunch of emotions he had barely any experience with. It was pure panic but he was so happy to be in the center of all of it. Especially if he got to sit there with the absolute striking man that was sitting in front of him at that moment.

 

A few hours later, Kylo had his arm around Hux as he walked them back to Hux’s apartment. Hux didn’t even realize when they got to his door till they nearly walked past it and he had to tug Kylo back a step. Pulling his keys from his pocket, Hux stepped out of Kylo’s hold and started to open his door when Kylo leaned up against the the wall next to him.

 

Hux paused in what he was doing and turned to look at him with the stupid small smile he couldn’t keep from his face. “So … this is me, as you can plainly see.”

 

Kylo gave a soft huff of a laugh before moving in closer, “I had a real nice night, Hux.”

 

Heat rose once again in Hux’s cheeks and he swallowed hard as Kylo seemed to lean in even closer, “I did too.”

 

They were mere centimeters from each other when Hux’s door swung open and Caesar stood there looking at both of them flatly with a smear of grease on her face -- which never bode well for anyone. “Oi, I did fuck anything, tell you that now.” She huffed walking back into Hux’s apartment.

 

Hux watch her disappearing back into the kitchen, losing completely track of what was just happening till Kylo grabbed him by the arm. Pulling him away from his doorway, Hux was pressed to the next to it as Kylo swooped down and locked his lips with Hux’s before he could say anything. His hands bunching into shirt fabric as Kylos arms snaked around his waist as they both fought to pull the other closer. Never wanting the hot boiling feeling that grew between them to stop till they both needed air and parted. 

 

“Are you free next Thursday?”

 

“Um…” Hux was a bit taken by surprise by the Thursday part of it but he wasn’t about to turn down anything that had Kylo involved with in, not now that’s for sure. “I can- WILL. Will be, yes.”

 

Kylo raised a brow at him and gave him a little smirk, “Good, I’ll text you the details.” He gave hux a little quick peck on the cheek before saying goodnight and walked back down the hall to the elevator and leaving. Hux just watched after him with awe struck eyes and jaw slightly slacked. Till Caesar reappeared and snapped him out of it with and angry loud-

 

“Hey!” Hux turned to her like he’d been smacked, she was looking at him like she had glasses to look over as she wiped off her hands, “You like him?”

 

He was still stuck a bit, in a daze as she slowly started to nod before committing to the motion and smiling widely at Caesar. “Yeah, yeah I really do.”

 

“Good, now get in her and help me clean up. I’ve made a mess or everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty tighty, it might be another while before I can post again for this but I am trying my best  
> Find me at [FrackenArt](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, though it's no surprise at this point, this is unedited so ... you get the gist

Work was utterly uneventful with Caesar gone. Hux had started to take his lunch in his booth seeing as the only conversation he could get out of Mitaka was the common courtesy ‘hello’ and small talk about the weather. Caesar hadn’t given explicit detail about where she was going, just that she’d be back at some point and that she was going to rub whatever it was in Poe Dameron’s face, which could be many things. 

 

Now, Hux sat with one Whippet with his body half way on to Hux’s lap while the other two either sat next to him on his couch or at his feet sleeping noisily. On the T.V, so poor woman was trying desperately to make an omelette using every appliance in her house while someone asked him if he ever did the same thing before offering him an easier way to do it. Hux wasn’t even paying attention to what was going on, his eyes somewhat glazed over as he stared at the screen. His mind started to wonder to the last few months which had flew past in brilliant color.

 

He’d been out with Kylo a few more times --a  _ lot _ more times actually, since Caesar had left and he had no one else to take up his time-- And they’d even been to each other’s apartment for dinners and  _ such _ . Kylo kept a weird schedule though, and most dates started with him showing up at Hux’s work a bit before he got off without any previous warning but a text that said ‘look up’. Not that Hux minded the surprises at all, it was actually to be swept off his feet after a hard day of sitting on his ass and get talk at by privileged assholes. 

 

Only thing thing that Hux was concerned about with Kylo was how he’d act sometimes. Kylo would be perfectly calm and relaxed one day, and on edge and paranoid the next. Other times he’d be as clingy as a leech --which Hux did not mind at all-- but, those times started with either a odd text that made Hux think Kylo was dying or Kylo just walking into his apartment like he owned the place and halting whatever Hux was doing, scaring the shit out of him in the process.

 

The commercial had ended and  _ Everybody Loves Raymond _ had come back on and the abrasive screeching from the everyone started to fill the room once again as they argued about something Hux didn’t even remember happening. The dog that sat at his side looked as confused as he did at everything on the screen. The only thing keeping Hux on the show was the wonderment that an old woman such as Raymond’s mother screech like she did.

 

Hux was about to fall back into his own mind when there was a loud knocking on his door that snapped him out of it. Pushing the dog off his lap, Hux got up from the couch and walked over to the door, looking through the peephole before opening the door and looked at the person on the other side with a brow raised.

 

“We have manners suddenly, now do we?” Hux asked as a small smile creeped on to his face.

 

Instead of responding, Kylo closed the gap between them by wrapping his arms around Hux’s waist and holding him tightly. Hux sighed and hugged him back, nuzzling into Kylo’s collar and breathing in deeply when the scent of something oddly familiar caught his attention. He nuzzled in close again and acted like he just wanted to get closer when he smelt it again; gunpowder. 

 

He pushed back from Kylo and looked at the man’s face but couldn’t find it in himself to question him on the smell when he say the circles under his eyes and the tiredness set in his lazy little smile. “You look utterly beat.”

 

Kylo leaned forward to put his forehead of Hux’s as he let out a little huff of a laugh, “I had a long day of work.”

 

Hux gave him little peck on the lips before pulling away, “Come in than, relax a little.” He said, moving over to the kitchen which sat just off the side of the living room, “I don’t have anything made up for dinner but I can warm something up for you if you want,” He opened the fridge and looked into the emptiness, “Or try too at least.”

 

Flopping down on the couch, Kylo let out a big sigh before unbuttoning his shirt a bit more, “That fine, only thing I want right now is some of that red we had the other day. I don’t care if it was out of a box, you have to admit it was good.”

 

“If you drink enough of any alcohol, it’s good, dear.” He huffed already pulling the adult juice box from the fridge and got two cups from one of the cabinets, filling them and moving over the couch to sit next to Kylo and handing him one of the glasses.

 

Kylo took the cup and wrapped his free arm around Hux and pulling him in a bit more as the dogs situated themselves around them. Both of them looked back to the T.V and watched the Raymond struggle to get a simple sentence out of his mouth before the audiences started laughing at him and his wife left the room. Kylo’s head tilted to the side as he took in what was happening on screen before he turned to look at hux and pull him nearly onto his lap.

 

“What can you not get enough of this at your work?”

 

Hux laughed into his cup as he took a swig of her wine before he turned to Kylo and started worrying a bit of his shirt between his fingers. “My job actually requires I watch this show in order to deal with customers.”

 

Swallowing down the rest of his wine before placing the glass on the coffee table in front of him and turning back to Hux. “You must have great work ethic than.”

 

Hux’s eyes went from Kylos to his shirt as he still worried the bit of fabric, “I try my hardest…” He trailed off at the end as a bit of red caught his eye. Little pinpricks of reddish brown that speckled half way down Kylo’s shirt. “Dear, what is this?”

 

One of Kylo’s large hands clasped over Hux’s smaller one bringing his eyes back up to Kylo’s, “Honestly Hux, out of the two of us I think  _ you're _ the one that needs to relax a little.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Hux huffed, his attention drawn off of the stain for the moment, “You sure that not you trying to get  _ something _ out of me?”

 

Kylo leaned in close to him, catching him lips from a long moment before pulling back to look at Hux’s now flush face, “I never said I wasn’t going to have fun with it too.”

 

Hux scoffed, “Needy.”

 

“You like it.”

 

\--

 

Hux sat on the lidded toilet with only a baggy shirt to cover himself. He had his phone in one hand and Kylo shirt from the day in the other, thumb ghosting over the stain as he worried his lip between his teeth. It was the third time that he had tried to call and it was on its last ring when finally the other side picked up. Relief washed over him like he had just disarmed a bomb.

 

“Chief, the hell are you call for at this time at night?”

 

“Sorry, Caesar, but I need your advice.”

 

There was a huf from the other side before Caesar spoke again, “You must be desperate.”

 

Hux shuck his head and looked up to the ceiling, “I really am.”

 

A pause stretched out a little too long over the line before Caesar talked again, “Well, out with it than.”

 

“Kylo came over tonight and-”

 

“I am  _ not _ the one to talk to about your sex life, Hux!”

 

“Just listen! Okay so -He came over and he finally knocked this time, so I thought we were getting somewhere-”

 

“Get to the point.”

 

“If you’d wait five seconds, I would -Anyway, he knocked, I greeted him, everything was normal but he smelt like gunpowder.”

 

There was another pause on the other end before the sound of fabric moving filled the speaker and Caesar came back. “And you know this for certain?”

 

“Yes, than later, I saw a stain on his shirt, and this is no normal stain, Caesar, this is blood I can tell, I’ve seen enough of it to know for sure.” The line was quite again, just the usual hum that came through. Hux  _ was _ getting desprest past this point, he looked down at the shirt again and felt the creeping edge of panic crawling up his throat. “Caesar, please I  _ need  _  to talk to someone about this.”

 

“Did you ask him about it?”

 

Hux let out a long breath of relief before answering, “Yes, he told me not to worry about it.”

 

“Than I wouldn’t, if you like this guy enough to still have sex with him after seeing he had a blood stain on his shirt, I wouldn't worry about it at all. You have a good thing here, Hux, you're happy for once -which is a first- and I don’t think you should give that up for a little blood and the possible smell of gunpowder.”

 

“Caesar! He could have murdered someone!”

 

“And? He said he was an exterminator didn’t he?” Caesar huffed, “He never said what the pest he was taking out was.”

 

“Act like an adult for one second,  _ please _ !”

 

There was a loud sigh from the other side, “Has he tried to kill you?”

 

“No…”

 

“Do you feel like you're life is in danger  _ at all _ ?”

 

“No, what are you getting at?”

 

“You're perfectly safe, Hux, you don’t need to worry about a thing. If you start feeling unsafe just talk to him about it, tell him the fluffy shit about ‘relationships being built on trust’ and what not -- and if that doesn’t work, there’s me.”

 

Hux bit his lip as a soft smile started to spread on to his face, “Thank you, Caesar.”

 

“Shut up and go back to bed.”

 

The call ended and Hux was left with Kylo’s shirt and the empty bathroom. With a soft sigh he turned out the light in the bathroom and went back to the bedroom, dropping the shirt on the floor and replacing his phone on his bedside table as he went. Without thinking twice, Hux wormed his way back to Kylo’s side and closed his eyes as he felt the other man pull him in tighter. Caesar was right, he was happier than he had been for a long time and a little blood wasn’t going to keep him from that. He’d seen plenty of blood in his day, one drop was nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me at [FrackenArt](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: It's still unedited, but when will it be edited. Have fun reading anyway.  
> Real warning at the bottom.

Hux was folding his laundry in his pajamas and his hair pulled up of his face by a clothespin when he heard a loud  _ thump _ come from what seemed to be the door at the end of his hallway. The door at the end of the hall being the elevator door up to Caesar’s place. And Caesar being his best friend that had been gone for months on end and was now going straight up to her house before saying hello. That bitch.

 

Throwing down the t-shirt he held in his hands --one he has never seen before, as well-- he went over to the door and pulled it open. Leaning against to the doorframe with his arms crossed as she stared at Caesar’s blue suit covered back. That blue suite that was, somehow, very familiar. Something that he remembered from a long while back. Something that he remembered hating taking care of and which took up too much space in his closet to never be used. Caesar turned finally and surprise widened her eyes, everything clicked at the gilt of the wings over her left breast pocket.

 

“Back to the Air Force?” He said, trying to keep an edge of disdain in his voice when he was more surprised them anything.

 

Caesar dropped what she was holding and tried to cover herself as if she was naked, “Don’t look at me! It was supposed to be a surprise!”

 

Hux shrugged, “It still is.”

 

With a sigh, Caesar dropped her head and turned back to her door and opened it, kicking in her duffle bag before turning back to Hux and leaning against her own doorway. “You still want to grab something to eat with me, or are you too pissed at me?”

 

With a huff, Hux pushed himself from his door frame and moved back into his apartment, “I’ll be out in five minutes.”

 

\--

 

At the bar of O’Neil’s, Caesar starts spitting story after story from the apparent flight school she had been at for the past months, getting all of her quick schooling out of the way to finally become licensed. In one story, she talked about the air traffic control that was named Phasma and had ‘ _ the voice of an angel _ ’ to quote directly. The woman was a common point in most of what Caesar talked about that night, and as the night wore on, she became the only thing Caesar would talk about.

 

The whole scenario reminded Hux too much of how things use to be when they had been deployed together. Everything from Caesar’s non-stop talking to how Hux couldn’t get a word in edgewise till she needed to stop to breath.Thankfully, the bar was not the sweltering heat of the desert nor the smell of the garbage dump that was just that little bit too close to the drink shack people confused for a bar. The shining U.S pins on either side of Caesar's lapels didn’t help either. An eagle screeching momento of the past .... of all of the past.

 

Soon enough, Caesar was laying on the bar top and looking into the distance with stars in her eyes as she played with the condensation of the side of her glass of water. Letting out a little sigh, she looked back over to Hux and asked, “Do you ever think I’ll find someone?”

 

Hux downed the rest of his drink before dropping the glass back down to the counter and turned to Caesar. “Caesar, shut up, you're just thirsty.” At that she whined and took and went to take an odd angled sip from her water but Hux took the cup from her before she could dump it all over herself. “If you really wanted to, I’m sure you could find someone, but right now I don’t know what’s up with you and I think sleep should be the first this you do.”

 

The frown slipped from Caesar’s face, replaced by a little smile that fell mostly in her eyes. “You really think so?”

 

“Yeah, it seems like you've been running on two hours of energy for the past week.”

 

Caesar swatted at him, “No! About the girl!” 

 

Hux shrugged, “You can do whatever you put your mind to, yes. But why don’t you do that with a clear mind.” 

 

He stood from his stool and gestured from Caesar to follow in her example. The walk back to the apartment was one of stumbling on both ends, Hux a bit too tipsy to keep his head straight and Caesar just too tired to keep her feet synchronized. Before Hux knew it, he was flopping down in his bed without the troublesome pooches hopping up with him. Once his head hit the pillow, he drifted off it some form of fitful sleep.

 

\---

 

_ The desert air was far to hot and so dry it made you thirsty just standing outside. Sweat was already dripping down the back of Hux’s neck and he hadn’t been away from the bird for more than five minutes. He and Caesar had taken to only zipping their flight suits up half way when not watched too closely by anyone that would write them up for such a thing. The sun had never liked Hux in the first place, but the way it was glaring at him now from behind hits white hot vale made it even more clear. _

 

_ Hux sat in one of the back seats of the jeep next to Caesar as it bumped down the road, hitting seemingly ever rock and pothole there was. She had had a menu from the restaurant back home that Hux so desperately wanted to eat at again. The drives -some young chirping bird, maybe a blue bird- kept looking hopped at every bump in the road and kept chirping along happily as a sudden dread weighed down on Hux’s shoulders. He hated it, Caesar -now a bird herself- chipped along with the driver like there wasn’t a care in the world as Hux felt the haunting breath of death on his neck. _

 

_ Before Hux could say as much, the jeep twisted into a metal death trap. Hand up pressing against the roof. Glass breaking and falling like crycelt rain around them. The burning heat of flames searing any open flesh. A high pitch ringing. Chirping turned to wolves howls to rageful, painful screaming. Burning. Searing. Pain. _

 

_ The smell of blood hit is noise like a punch to his face. _

 

Twisting himself away from the smell, Hux woke up suddenly and found Kylo leaning over him in bed with a terrified look in his eyes and a little pathetic smile on his lips that looked more pain than happy. Hux shot up in bed in bed, about to yell at Kylo for sneaking up on him like that when the light from outside shone on the other man and his breath caught in his throat. Blood covered one side of his body where one of his hand pressed to his side tightly, his shirt completely ruined by the browning red.

 

“Kylo,” Hux’s voice was scratchy and sleep heavy, “What happened to you?”

 

“It’s nothing to worry about,” He said with his pained smile as he moved to sit next to Hux on the bed. “You wouldn’t happen to have a first-aid kit anywhere would you?”

 

Hux immediately jumped up and ran into the kitchen, rummaging around the cabinets till he came to a white box with a red cross on the top of it. Running back to his room, Hux flicked on the lights and took Kylo in fully as he kneeled on the bed by his feet. Blood streaked from his face down his side, stopping at his hip completely ruining his white button up. Popping the first-aid kit open, he looked back up at Kylo.

 

“What do I need to do?”

 

Kylo took off his shirt, reliving a large wound in her side -or something that looked large- and tossing to it to the side before starting. “Let's start with cleaning it, from there I’ll just need a of help till it comes to dressing it.” Hux nodded and did exactly as instructed, too shocked by everything to do any different.

 

Hux’s mind was a flurry of messy emotions and images he couldn’t comprehend nor had the time to do so. Wiping the blood from Kylo’s wound, Hux sat back and watched him work handing him bits and pieces from the kit as he asked for them. Gauze and wet wipes, gloves than tweezers and-

 

Hux had to look away after that, nausea hitting him like a boot to the gut as Kylo moved with the tweezers down to his side to start fiddling about and find whatever had been lodged in him. Hux kept a hand on on of Kylo’s knees but stared at the floor as he steadied his breathing, the smell of blood was stronger now and making him all the more nauseous. 

 

“Medical tape?” Kylo asked from behind him. Hux quickly went to shuffle around in the box once more till he found the tape and handed it over without looking. Kylo caught his hand before Hux could pull away fully and placed a little kiss on his knuckles, “I’m almost done.” with that Kylo let go and went back to work, fixing a bandage to his side. 

 

When Hux finally turned around, Kylo was trying to clean up the little mess he had made from where he sat on the bed. Hux grabbed the waste basket from the corner of the room and handed it out for Kylo to throw all of his mess out before settling down on the bed once more. Minding Kylo’s wound, he curled up at the other man’s side still a bit shocked at all that had just happened. His eyes caught on a shiny piece of something that sat on a piece of gauze on the bedside table. Reaching out, Hux too the piece between his index finger and thumb and rolled it around to examine it.

 

“We can talk about this if you like.” Kylo offered, startling Hux out of his little tunnel vision. He looked up to find Kylo watching his finger holding what Hux assumed to be the remains of a bullet before turning to Hux. “I’m guessing you have a lot of questions, I might not be able to answer all of them but I’ll try my best.”

 

Hux watched him for a time before mumbling out a little, “No.” surprise lit up Kylo’s face but before he could say anything Hux continued, “I don’t care about any of that right now. I just want this.”

 

Kylo only nodded and moved his arm to wrap around Hux’s should so his hand could wipe the hair from his face. There was nothing of this Hux wanted to know about as of right now. All he wanted was to make sure that Kylo was alright, keep him safe above all. Why he had gotten didn’t matter if he ended up dead, Hux could always ask later and he was probably get answers anyway. Most of all, right now, Hux just wanted to get back to sleeping and question would only make that harder. Tomorrow he’d ask, Hux told himself, tomorrow after he was ready for the day and not of the verge of passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there is blood, like quite a bit, and home surgery (somewhat) non-descriptive though and there's some flash-backs about violent incidents as well
> 
> Find me here if you wanna talk or ... anything? [FrackenArt](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is, yet again, unedited so mind the flaws and all that.  
> Another thing, I rushed a bit in order to get this out before I left for a week and an half long trip so it might be even a bit more sloppy than normal but just hand in there with me guys.

Caesar sat next to Poe in the makeshift meeting room, the fans on full blast in the back to make up from the lack of air conditioning in the sky rocking heat of the day. Poe had his feet resting on the fold out chair in front of him as Caesar scrolled through her phone, watching it with her hand under her chin. Other people from all branches of the military chatted around them till the man in charge of this little gathering stepped up to the podium in the front of the room. He cleared his throat, and everyone hushed and took their seats.

 

The man is tall, his face shows how old he is, but he wears his wrinkles with so much charm and bravado that it makes him oddly handsome. His grey hair is messy but stylish and matches the dark grey suit and blue button up he has on. With a quirk to one side of his mouth, he scans over the crowd of people in front of him, the smile spreading as he looked down the lines.

 

He let out a low whilst before he spoke, “Well, don't we just have all the odds and ends in here.” he huffed, and the crowd let out a little laugh with him.

 

The man cleared his throat once more before finally introducing himself. “To all of you who don’t know me, I would like to formally introduce myself. I am the Director of the First Order, Han Solo.” soft gasped echoed through the room and Poe’s hand grasped on to Caesar’s arm like it was dying, “And to all those who do know me, you already know why I’m here.”

 

With a click of a button, the lights dimmed, and the projector turned on to show a screen with one picture on it. An emblem glared at everyone -- an orange circle with another circle taken out of its top but for a bit that was shaped like a geometric Fleur-de-lis -- with the words ‘ _ Join the Resistance _ ’ turning around it. It was spray painted on the side of what seemed to be a burnt-out church. Han looks back to the room with a stoic face.

 

“The Resistance is back, and, with all the sightings and vandalisms that have been coming up, it’s with a vengeance.” Han said with a sort of bluntness that would be offensive if what he had said would have come from anyone else's mouth.

 

He clicked to the next slide to show several other burned down religious sights with things like ‘ _ Resist _ ’ and ‘ _ Join us _ ’ and lastly -- and the one that makes Caesar skin crawl-- ‘ _ Meet your one true god _ ’. Caesar swallows hard as a shiver ran down her back,  _ why the fuck am I here _ , she thought to herself,  _ I don’t deal with cults especially religious ones _ .

 

“The Resistance is a religious  _ group _ that claims to branch off of Christianity though they do not discriminate when it comes to burning or defacing holy sites.” he clicks to the next page that showed many ‘missing people’ flyers, “They have also been linked to many kidnappings and disappearances that cross all of the country.” another click and odd pieces of papers flash up on screen, “These people are much stronger now than they were before. They have a new form of recruiting and they have a new set of hands on the reins and however they are, they are either the most insane or the most intelligent and manipulative person there is.”

 

The room went silent as everyone stared at the people on the board that seemed to stare right back. Poe’s hold on Caesar’s arm was a little less than a death-grip, turning to ask Poe exactly why they were there at all she was met with a ghost white man that looked as if he  _ had _ died. Caesar shook his hand on her arm a little and he snapped to look at her, she raised a brow at him and all he did was mouth at her the word ‘cult’ before turning back to the front.

 

Han clicked off the presentation and the lights went back on, “Now, you're all probably wondering why you're all here. Well, I tell you this if you can’t already see it; we have a very  _ unique _ problem on our hands, and that problem will require some pretty unique tools to fix it. Finally, the saying ‘everyone matters’ is coming true, unlike all those times your parents told you that you matter, this time it’s true.” There were soft laughs around the room before Han counted to the end. “From this point forward, I would like to welcome all of you to the First Order, you’ll all start Monday, all the individual information you need has been sent to whatever personal device you have. And remember: loose lips sink ships!”

 

At that, Han marched out of the room, his burly bodyguard following him. The whole room watched as he went, shock still keeping them in their seats till one of the few generals that was there jumped up from his chair and started shouting. ‘ _ Who does this man think he is?! _ ’ and ‘ _ He can’t strip us of our titles! _ ’ along with other shouts of the sort echoed around the room as the higher ups finally had what Han had said sink in. all but a few, including Caesar and Poe, still sat. 

 

Caesar sucked on her teeth for a moment before turning to Poe to find him starting back at her the same way. “Are we secret agent ...  _ pilots _ now?” He asked her, his voice raised several octaves from his normal tone.

 

With a shrug, she stood from her seat and looked up to see the silhouette of Han pass by the second door the room had. “Let’s go ask.”

 

They stepped out in the hall, Caesar leading, to find Han just a little way down the hall with his bodyguard at his right side. “Excuse me, Sir!” Caesar called down the hall making Han stop, she took Poe by the arm and jogged up to Han with a small smile, “My apologies to bother you, sir, but we were just wonder what … exactly just happened back there.” She tossed a thumb over her shoulder to indicate to the meeting room that was still in an uproar of yells and shouts.

 

Han huffed, a small smile spread across his face, “Well that’s new.” He turned to his guard, “Maybe we got some good ones this time around.”

 

“From what you said at the end and the reaction of all the top brass in the room, it seemed a bit like you just took us from our military positions and threw us into some sort of secret agency.”

 

“Then I came across loud and clear.” Han said putting his hands on his hips. Caesar and Poe looked between each other, but the older man spoke up before they could say anything else, “Is that going to be a problem with you two?”

 

Poe was the first to shake his head, “No, I don’t have a problem.” though he sounded like he did have a problem with it.

 

Caesar shrugged, “As long as I get a cool code name, I’m fine with it.”

 

Han laughed at that but before he could reply to them, someone called him from the other end of the hall. “Dad!”

 

Everyone turned to look at the new comer and Caesar’s eyes went wide. Kylo paid her no mind till after he said a few words to his dad that just sounded like muffles to her. It was like the floor had been pulled out from under her feet. Poe nudge her, pulling her out of her little haze before leaning into her space a bit and whispering to her.

 

“You know that guy?”

 

Caesar kept her eyes on Kylo who watcher her back as he dad did something for him. Slowly he shook his head and Caesar followed his example.

 

“Nope.”

 

\---

 

Kylo was gone in the more after breakfast with a light kiss on the cheek. It was one of the nicest morning he had in quite some time, Hux only wished it had lasted longer before reality came back and slapped him in the face with a disgruntled old woman that thought it was his fault for her train not being in the station even though she was the one that was 30 minutes late. He was screaming at her internally as he just smiled and apologize along with all of her complaints that just seemed to go on and on and on. Several trains that could have brought her to wherever she wanted to have come and gone before she finally left him with a huge headache and nothing more.

 

Now, with an old magazine on his face, Hux sat back in his chair and thought about taking an early break. Though the box of donuts was rather appealing, the thought of having another awkward conversation with Mitaka over the weather. A small tapping on her window made up the decision for him. Looking up with a groan, he was met with a very distressed looking Caesar who was still finicky tapping at his window.

 

Sliding open the window, Caesar pushed herself up onto the counter successfully sticking half of her body through the opening. “Hello, Hux”

 

Hux blinked at her a few times, “Hello, Caesar.”

 

“Do you know that your boyfriend is a secret agent?”

 

“Based off the bloody shirt in my hamper, I assumed something like that yes.”

 

Caesar rested her chin on her fist and watched Hux carefully, “And you're … fine with this, no shock or panic or, I don’t know, screaming and freaking out in some way?”

 

Hux laughed at her, “God no, I’ve been, as you put it so gently, ‘ _ freaking out _ ’ ever since I woke up and had to try and get blood stains from the night before off my hands. He looked down at his hands then and silence fell over both of them for a while before Hux spoke again and made Caesar jump, “Well, at least he’s not a murderer.”

 

“Do you want to go stress eat till we get sick and regret our decision.”

 

“That sounds like a horrible coping mechanism.”

 

“Hux, I’m starving, and I need someone to pay for all my food because I forgot my wallet.”

 

“I get off at 5 if you can wait that long.” Hux sighed.

 

Caesar shimmied her way back out of the window, “Good,  _ good _ , I’ll be in the break room flustering Mitaka.”

 

With a tap on the counter, Caesar walked off leaving Hux with an even bigger headache. Dread had been creeping into his head all day but with Caesar’s confirming the blood hadn’t been some elaborate act that he was high-key hoping for, everything seemed to crumble a little more around him. His mind went back and forth and everything, racing around like a chicken with its head cut off making the world seem to spin a bit around him.

 

Letting out a deep breath, Hux put his head in his hands, “At least he’s not a murderer.” he repeated to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to find me at all, I am here [FrackenArt](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/) come talk and all that


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: there's kidnapping right at the begging of this one, along with some violence and blood along with somewhat gore-y hypnotism(or, more like mind control) towards the end. this chapter is all sort of bad ...

Hux pushed into his apartment, struggling to hold all the bags of leftovers and he shuffled in the dark to the main light switch. Once the lights were on, he made his way to the ‘fridge and try to stuff all the boxes away before moving to his kitchen counter and emptying out his pockets. With a heavy sigh, Hux moved out of the kitchen stretching his arms over his head and let out a big yawn when he heard a clicking that wasn’t his back popping.

 

“Hello?” Hux asked, stopping in the middle of the hall towards his bedroom. “Kylo, is that you? There is a front door you know?”

 

He walked a little further down the hall, reaching out to his bedroom door when it flung open and a wild looking girl sprang out at him. Before Hux could get his hands in front of his face, she took a bat and swung at him making him fall over. The girl was pale, her brown hair up in odd buns though most of her hair was falling out of them and her eyes were crazed like a feral animal. She advanced toward him with the bat in from of herself as he pushed himself backward as fast as he could.

 

Pulling himself back up to his feet, Hux turned to run back down the hall when the bat collided with his leg and dropped him back to the hardwood with a thud. A yell ripped from his throat as pain seared through his knee and through his leg, casing up his spin, rippling pain all over his body. The girl moved to stand over him and raised the bat over her head, Hux’s breath caught in his throat before another yell tore out of him and he raised his hands to cover his face.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you, the Mother would be very displeased with that.” Hux made to move again but the girl stepped down on his bad leg and another shout echoed through the apartment. “Now, there’s no need to worry, it will only hurt if you make it.” She raised the bat up once more when a loud banging on the door drew her attention away for Hux for a second. 

 

“HUX! What is going on?! Are you alright?!” Caesar shouted from the other side before pounding on the door once more.

 

“Caesar! Help!”

 

The girl stepped on his leg once more making him scream again as she bent down and hissed at him, “Shut up! You have no need for help. Now I have to go take care of our little problem.” 

 

The girl walked away from him and over to the apartment front door where Caesar was still pounding on the door and yelling. With a quick twist of the door knob, the girl opened the door and hit Caesar in the face with the butt end of the bat before walking it to the hall. There were shouts and thuds of something hitting something before the distinct sound of metal hitting something solid before there was nothing. A minute or so later, footsteps came back through the hall and Hux look up to be met with the girl looking down at him with blood dripping from her nose.

 

“Now that that mess was all taken care of, we best be going, Mother hates to wait.” She raised the bat back over her head and Hux barely had time to guard himself before the bat swung down and everything went black. 

 

\--

 

“Christ sake- SHIT!” 

 

The moment Caesar opened her eyes she was ment with roaring fire that was on its way to consuming Hux’s apartment. She pushed herself to her feet and stumbled into the burning apartment to get into the kitchen and take the fire extinguisher from under the sink. Pulling the plastic pin, Caesar raced over to the room on fire and spread it out and them some before letting herself fall back to lean on the wall behind her and take a breath.

 

When she looked back at the scene in front of her, she noticed a symbol burnt into the carpeting of the room; the same symbol that she had seen when she had first been introduced to the First Order. Caesar stepped forward to get a better look at the smoldering insignia, something tripping in her head and making her want to desperately just go back to bed and pretend none of this had ever happened. The ache in her face reminded her that pretend wasn’t an option --though she wished-- it would never be an option.

 

She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts till she found the one she wanted and clicked call, only waiting till the line was picked up to talk. “Get your ass over here now.” she turned off her phone before an answer came. Letting herself slid down the wall, Caesar shut her eyes and almost immediately passed out.

 

\--

 

Hux woke up with a splitting headache that pounded through skull with every heartbeat. He could feel the dried blood on his face, pulling on his skin as he turned to look around the room. It was too dark to make out details but the room had the look and feel of an old hospital; white tiles covered the walls and floor --only a thick blue line that ran around the whole room gave it any color-- the only window of the room was boarded up. There was no bed or cabinets, only the rolling chair he was tied onto and a small table that sat a few feet in front of him.

 

His throat was dry, his wrist burned from rope burn, his vision blurred at the edges and his spine was ridged with a dull pain that made him think he’d been sitting for days straight. He wouldn’t doubt if he had been. Before his thoughts cut pull in whatever way they started to wonder, the thick metal door into his room clicked open, the sound of it echoing around the empty space of the door before footsteps followed. Hux didn’t look up, not wanting to recognize anything that was happening to him, maybe if he shut his eyes and went back to sleep this would all disappear-

 

A loud  _ thunk  _ made his eyes snap open to see a bright yellow Walkman on the table in front of him and someone moving around behind it. The person move behind Hux making him go as still as possibly before jumping as his chair stuttered forward.

 

“There’s no need to worry.” a girl’s voice came from behind him, the same voice as the girl that had taken him from his home. The chair was pushed completely up to the table before moved from the chair to the Walkman, picking up the headphone and moving to put them over Hux’s ears when he pulled away from her. “Now, don’t do be stubborn.” She huffed before grabbing hold on his head and forcing the headphones on and strapping them in place somehow. “The less you struggle, the easier this will be for all of us.”

 

She moved her attention back to the Walkman, clicking it on and flooding Hux’s head with static before it cleared up and started playing  _ Across the Universe _ . The girl moved to flick on something behind him once more before a project flickered to life over his shoulder and started showing him black and white videos and photos of generic looking families having what seems to be a good time. As the song went on, the pictures started getting mixed with flashes of red and wild animals with blood in their mouths. Red was the only other color on screen, every flicker of it making Hux twitch away from the movie. The song becoming louder in his ears till it blended over itself and become an odd sort of hypnotizing pulsing hum that reverberated through his bones.

 

The girl held his head so he couldn’t turn away from the screen as more and more bloodied animals flashed on the screen. They turned to predators; wolves with bloody jaws and meat still hanging from their teeth, bears gutting defenseless animals to gore themselves, cougars tearing through the hide of an elk as they gang up on the prey and shred it till it’s not recognizable as an animal. Blood seemed to pour out of the screen and drench the floor in a silky red that leached out to Hux’s feet. 

 

His body twitched, convulsed to get away from whatever was happening to it as his vision fogged more and more. Something hot rolled down from on his cheeks, dripping from his ears and flowing from his nose, trickling down to his mouth where his tongue was meet with the sicking irony taste of blood that soon filled his mind with thoughts of death and murder. The urge to fight flooded Hux’s system, the need to rip and tear and kill.

 

_ A gun and it’s bullets laid in front on him, without thinking he grab the gun and loaded it before walking forward making the table fall away and a hidden door in front of him swing open to show the interior of some sort of bunker. The hall the stretched on in front of him seemed to go on and on, all littered with doors. Both of his hands held onto the pistol with white knuckles as he continued down the hall.  _

 

_ All at once everything clicked into place and suddenly Hux’s hands snapped up and aimed at the door before the first person even emerged. The shoot ripped through the air and everything fell into chaos, another body and a shot to follow. His bullets seemed to be infinite as he took out anyone that came to stand in his way as he walked the hall, his mind dragging him forward to some unknown endpoint. _

 

_ Hux stopped at the large door at the very end of the hall. One of his hands reached out to the door and pushed it open with a dream like ease. The room looked like a command center of some sort, many people standing around a table frozen like a renaissance painting, all of them in mid argument but one older man that stood out against the rest. He stared directly at Hux, his eyes knowing as Hux raised the gun to be level with his head. _

 

**_KILL_ **

 

_ Like it was instinct, he pulled down the trigger as everything faded to black. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer here: I just finished playing Far Cry™ 5 and got a bit of inspiration there, so if anything seems familiar that might be why, and if it's not but you think it sounds interesting I suggest playing the game.
> 
> Find me at [FrackenArt](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/) if you want to talk or anything


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Someone get a head semi-serious head injury and doesn't get it treated. People steal things. There is nondescript murder in here that is played off as nothing. I think that's all of it.

“What the hell happened?”

 

The dogs jumped from their spots on and around the couch, gosling Caesar on they way to the newcomer. Caesar steadied herself with a hand on the coffee table nearby while the other held a bag of ice to her face. Before she could sit up and get a greeting from her mouth to the intruder, a large shadow cast down on her.

 

“If I knew, I don’t know if I’d be able to get it out in words.” Caesar huffed as she took the bag of ice from her face.

 

The look Kylo gave her made her feel like she should have possibly gone to the hospital instead of passing out on her couch. With a dog under one arm and the other two scrambling around his feet, Kylo moved to sit on the coffee table opposite Caesar who was pushing herself up the couch to sit up correctly. She let out a heavy sigh through her nose which came out as a little whistle. She really should have really gone to the hospital.

 

“All I can say is what I saw and heard which isn’t much seeing as…” she gestured to her face before counting, “I heard shouting, yelling, the like and I knew you weren’t here so something had to be wrong. I went to see what was happening and I got a bat in the face by some scrappy _little girl_.”

 

Kylo raised a brow at her as he dropped the dog from his arms and almost immediately got attacked by the pooch wanting back up. Pushing the dog back down, Kylo asked, “Did you get a good look at her?”

 

“It’s all a bit blurry but everything is the way it was after she took Hux -- except the fire, that is.” Caesar stood up before adding, “It would probably be a good idea for us to go check it out before anything else can fuck with it.”

 

“That’s alright, Caesar,” Kylo said, laying a hand on her shoulder and pushing her back to the couch, “I’ll go look everything over, you should probably rest off the whole-” he motioned to his nose, “-face thing, I don’t, pass out or something.”

 

Caesar fell back onto the couch and put the ice pack back on her face, “Sounds like a plan. Hux’s keys on in the bowl by the front door if you need, I could probably find your own way in, anyway.”

 

“Right, I’ll be back” Kylo hurried to the door, grabbing the keys shuffling through Caesar’s door, trying not to let any of the dogs escape on his way out.

 

He made his way down the few floors to Hux’s apartment; putting the key in to the door’s lock only to have it be pushed open slightly by the motion. Walking in only a few steps, Kylo could immediately that Hux didn’t go with whoever took him willingly. Hux’s keys and wallet were on the kitchen counter where he always put them and everything in the kitchen seemed to be where it had been previously, but from there it looked as if the apartment had been flipped over from someone looking for something.

 

The hall to Hux’s bedroom was trashed; the picture in it hung crooked, and the plants along with the small table they had sat on were toppled and littering the floor. As Kylo looked closer, he notices brownish-red smears of something on the floor, streaking all the way to the living room doorway. Following them, he was led to the most destroyed room of the apartment. The couches were turned over and the television busted and cracked on the floor. The floor was charred along with the bottom of the curtains but something seemed off about the marks on the ground. Moving closer, he studied the floor more closely, taking in all of the rug and what marked it.

 

“Fuck-ity, fuck fuck _fuck_.”

 

\---

 

“Shouldn’t you be in like, the hospital or something?”

 

“Probably.”

 

Caesar and Poe sat next to each other as Kylo paced on the other side of the large dark wood table that nearly filled the meeting room they were in. Kylo was scribbling something on the whiteboard that covered the whole wall, making little diagrams and maps of what was going through his head. Mumbling to himself before pounding his fist on the table, spooking both Poe and Caesar, as he figured something out and wrote it down.

 

“What are we even doing here?”

 

“I have no idea.”

 

“Shut up!” Kylo spun around to them, “I’ve figured it all out! Now all I need it the location, which would be pretty simple if I could get into the data storage.” He taped at his chin before crossing his arm and leaning back against the whiteboard.

 

Caesar cleared her throat, drawing Kylo’s eyes to her, “This is great in all -if I could understand any of it- but what does all this mean, and what exactly does it have to do with us?”

 

Kylo looked to the whiteboard before turning back to Poe and Caesar, “I’m going to go find Hux, and the two of you are going to help me.”

 

Caesar and Poe looked at each other for a second before turning to look at Kylo again and speaking at the same time.

 

“This sounds very illegal.” -- “Wait, where did Hux go?”

 

Kylo looked at both of them with a raised brow, “I don’t know what either of you just said but I’m taking it as you're fine with doing this.”

 

\---

 

“I am _absolutely_ not fine with this.” Caesar huffed from where she stood trying to unlock the door of one of Han Solo’s prized single-engined pound skippers. She wore a denim jacket that had the sleeves cut off with an American flag print tank top underneath it tied just above her waist and jeans tucked into cowboy boots. She adjusted the trucker cap on her head that boasted about a father-son business she’d never been to and  moved her sunglasses to rest back on the hats brim.

 

Poe was too enthralled in the crimson painted body of the plane, fingers ghosting over the white cursive letters that spell out _Odyssey_ on the plane’s side, “Calm down, Caesar, it’s just a quick fly over and then right back here. Han won’t know this beaut even left the hanger.” His new get-up an orange jumpsuit tied around his waist showing the dingy white tank top under it and tucked into black combat boots.

 

“Unless, of course, you come back with bullet hole in it.” Kylo appeared from one of the doorways in a more casual take of his normal attire -a black leather jacket and dark jeans tuck into brown work boots- and a large camera in his hands. “Don’t get too low on this place, these people won’t hesitate to take you out no matter what plane you're in.”  He tossed the camera to Poe -who struggled to catch it and looked very surprised when he finally did two inches from the ground- Kylo turned around and grabbed something else from the wall before turning back to them with it.

 

“Woah woah, the shit are those for?” Caesar walked over to him with a distrustful look crossing her face. “The hell will we need those for?”

 

Kylo held up two AR-15s, offering them off to Poe and Caesar, “In case you _do_ get too close.”

 

Caesar huffed a little laugh before smacking herself in the face, “First; we’ve got these weird get-ups, second; we’re using a civilian plane -which doesn’t belong to us- on what seems to be a stealth mission in a dangerous location, and now; we have guns -actual guns, not ones attached to the plane or anything- to defend ourselves.” Kylo thought over her words for a few seconds before nodding in agreement. “Wonderful. Now while Poe and I are potentially being shot out of the sky, where will you be?”

 

“Right behind you.” Kylo stated simply.

 

Poe though for a moment, “Figuratively or literally?”

 

“Literally. The planes a four seater.”

 

Both Poe and Caesar looked at each other before looking back at the plane. Kylo moved past them and tossed an ammo bag into the back of the plane before following it with the two ARs and a gun for himself … and then himself. Poe gave Caesar a little smack on the shoulder before following after Kylo and taking the co-pilot's seat. After a quick look-back over every mistake she had made in her life to lead her to this point in life, Caesar followed after Poe and got into the pilot’s seat and started up the plane. A quick check over of everything and they were out of the hanger and into the night sky.

 

\--

 

The _Odyssey_ streaked across the night sky, only the lights on the tips of its wings showing where the phantom flew. Caesar watched out the window as they approached the compound Kylo had picked out for them. She cut in closer to the compound and turned off the lights before starting her downer circle to get as close as she could without getting caught. She turned to look at Poe, who was taking photos, before looking back to Kylo to make sure he had his seatbelt on before turning back forward.

 

“Hold on to something, I’m getting us a better look.” before anyone could get a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, Caesar tipped the plane to its side making Kylo grab for something and Poe scramble not to slam his face into the window he was shooting out of. Both of them grumbled and glared at her. “I warned you.”

 

“A second before you did it.” Kylo shot back at her pulling himself up to rest between the backs on the front two seats.

 

“Still a warning.”

 

Kyo huffed before turning towards Poe, “You getting anything good?”

 

Poe shook his head, “We’re too high to get anything that isn’t blurry.”

 

“If we get any closer, anyone with eyes will be able to see us.” Caesar turned to look at both of them, “That’s a warning by the way.”

 

“It doesn’t matter,” Kylo dismissed, “I need to get proof that Hux isn’t here, and better yet, find out where he is.”

 

“It’s almost like you want to get on the ground and wreak havoc.” Caesar mumbled to herself before it seemed to settle in and she turned to look at Poe who came to the same conclusion.

 

“Get closer!”

 

Startled by the order, Caesar instinctively pushed the plane down and started on a lower circle. They were on their second lap around before a siren started wailing off below them and lights shone up into the cockpit, blinding all three for a few seconds. Caesar immediately went into evasive maneuvers, trying to keep the plane’s movement too erratic to follow. But it wasn’t erratic enough.

 

“They have a huge ass gun!” Poe yelled.

 

Caesar huffed, “That’s great!”

 

“Caesar, watch out!”

 

Bullets tore through the belly of the plane and wing, smoke streaming in the wake of the pound skipper as Caesar struggled to keep it in the air. She pulled up and tried to maneuver it away from getting further shot up. Han Solo was going to put her in the ground for this, unless she put Kylo, Poe and herself there first. She shook her head and headed for a clearing near the edge of a large pound.

 

“Hold on to something, for real this time!”

 

The plane went down hard on its belly, destroying it further as it skidded over the dirt and gravel ground. A horrible screeching filled the air as the plane’s wing hit a tree and spun around, only slowing when the tail hit the water of the pound. When it finally settled the only sound that filled the air  was the painted breathing of the three as they registered that they had successfully survived the crash. All of them looking around themselves and letting out little laughs with each other before dog barks broke the adrenaline of living.

 

Kylo shoved a gun into both Poe’s and Caesar’s hands before going for the door, only stopped by Caesar grabbing at his coat and pulling him back. “The hell am I going to do with this? You don’t think we’re _really_ going to kill people?”

 

“Don’t act so innocent, _Caesar._ Don’t think I don’t know _how_ you got that name.” Kylo said as he shuffled out of the plane.

 

Poe looked over to Caesar with a raised brow, “It’s a long story.” Caesar huffed before getting out and following Kylo.

 

He shook his head, “It always is.” Poe muttered to himself before going out after them, holding his gun awkwardly in his arms.

 

Before they even made it back up to the gate, they were being fired at. Shots going off in all directions it seemed, yells and cries mixing with the blasting siren but nothing deterred Caesar who lead the charge in with a scowl of annoyance and heavy even steps. Poe finally got to his senses and ran up to stand even with Kylo, adjusting the bag of ammo on his back as he tried to keep himself from flinching at every shot.

 

Caesar checks her gun before taking the first offending shoots straight into a man’s head. Poe felt faint. Kylo never wanted to be on the wrong end of her gun. She shot two more to the ground before smacking down a dog that lunged at her and putting it to rest with the others. Before Poe could process what his eyes were trying to relay to his brain, Caesar was running into the compound like it was her job with Kylo hesitantly following her.

 

“What in all hell have I gotten myself into?” Poe huffed as he rushed to stay close behind his best chances of survival.

 

“It looks like a _big_ thing of accidental friendly fire to me.” Kylo huffed over his shoulder

 

Caesar ran ahead, her mentors’ teachings taking over her actions as she went. Kylo and Poe just stood and watched as shots lit up the compound and yells and screams filled the air. It was almost like watching a car crash; they wanted to dearly, but they just couldn’t look away. Poe felt as if he was going to vomit based off the sound alone. Kylo needed to look back in the Caesar’s records one more time.

 

Snapping out of the little daze, Kylo dragged Poe along to follow the breadcrumbs of gore Caesar left in her wake and pick off a few stragglers on the way. Caesar stood in front of a large cabin that made up most of the compound with blood running down her arm from her shoulder and a busted cheek. She popped her empty magazine out and tossed it over her shoulder, grabbing one from Poe and reloading before turning towards them.

 

“They were running out the back with big trucks as I was coming through. I’m assuming only minimal if any are still left let alone in the building. Whatever is left I’m guessing isn’t of any value to them so I don’t know how much it will be to us.”

 

Kylo shrugged before starting forward, “Worth a check.”

 

The building was lit but devoid of life. A desk with a chalk board behind it greeted them as they entered. Poe walked up to it and read over the words, looking over the papers on the desk before dropping them and taking a shocked step backwards.

 

“Hot shit, these are names, hell, they’re holding _people_ here!”

 

Caesar and Kylo both looked up from where they were searching in the other corners of the room before looking at each other. Kylo nearly knocked Poe over to get to the board and reading over it before cursing. He pushed the desk out of his way and kicked over the lamp at its side, punching the board like it was its fault it didn’t have what he wanted.

 

Looking for Caesar’s assistants but finding her absent, Poe swallowed and asked Kylo, “Everything good?”

 

“No!” the larger man shouted back, “He isn’t here! I just got fucking ‘your princess is in another tower’ed! Hux is probably out there getting tortured in some other cult compound and I’m just sitting here playing commando!”

 

Poe put up her hands defensively as a chair went flying over his head, “Now, Kylo, why don’t you just think of it as us narrowing down the search.”

 

Kylo responded back chucking something else but before he could get any more destructive a sharp whistle drew their attention up to the next floor balcony. Caesar stood there with a man leaning against her side. He was dark skinned with short dark hair and looked about to pass out if it wasn’t already. He gave a weak smile and waved at both of them before flopping all of his weight down on Caesar.

 

“I think this will help lessen the search immensely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to come out, I've had a lot on my plate as of late but anyway here it is and all that jazz. We're nearly to the end now, just got to gut through a bit more.
> 
> If you'd like to find me, I'm here [FrackenArt](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for such a long wait, doing this has become dragging since school has started again, but I'm almost done(both with school and with this) so it shouldn't be much more. Still, sorry for the wait.
> 
> be warned that this is also only editied by myself so were going down like people that think too fast while they type.
> 
> WARING:   
> there are threats on peoples lives as well as blood and gore in this one and lots of cult-ish stuff so ... we're getting into it.

_ It felt like it had been years that he was stuck there with the Beatles crawling into his head like actual bugs. Nothing's going to change his world, he’s strapped there with his eyes glued to the carnage of wild beast playing out in front of him, killing and consuming everything around them. Humans one of those animals, gnawing on the throat of the weak, feeding their own hunger. Blood dripped from snarling mouths filled with sharp fanged teeth. _

 

_ Hux was losing his mind, he wanted to scream, he wanted to kick and howl, he wanted to burn it all. _

 

_ Flames burst from the center of the projection, burning the image in front of him as if it was made of tissue paper. Chard hands appeared at the edge of the flames, pushing the fire outward until all of the film in front of him had dissipated. A body pulled its way out of the dark void left by the flames. The remnants of an American flight suit hung from the badly burnt body, the ID tags around its neck, chiming as it stepped forward from the wall. Flames licked up its face as the eyes slowly opened to show icy blue eyes Hux remembered all too clearly. _

 

_ “Caesar.” _

 

_ She stumbled forward, one of her legs broken. She said something, but what came from her mouth was backwards and distorted. She reached out from him, her hand coming close enough that Hux could feel the heat from it and smell the searing flesh. He quickly shifted his head to the side as she lurched forward with a cough, her hand steadying her from the headrest. Blood started falling from her mouth as the coughs tore from her chest. She spoke again, this time her voice ripped from her throat even as it came out as a whisper. _

 

_ “h e l p  m e.” _

 

Hux woke screaming and pulled hard at his wrist and feet until they started to sting and burn. Someone rushed into the room and tried to hold him still but as soon as a hand neared his face, Hux bit down on it as hard as possible. The other person screamed and with one more tug at his wrist, Hux was able to free one and bring a fist to the other’s ear making them cry out again and fall to the floor.

 

It was as if an animal had been let loose, how he tore at his other wrist and ankles to free them, not caring about his bloodied fingers. Once he was out the other person, a man that was mostly likely a guard of sorts was back up. He raised his fist like it was a proper fight when Hux lunged forward and caught him in the middle, pulling him to the ground before pinning him there and tearing at his open throat like a wolf would snap the neck of a deer. Blood filled his mouth, the smell of it wafted through the room like an apple pie’s would. 

 

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, Hux slowly came back to himself, the tang of iron still on his tongue. One of his hands flew up to his mouth before he could scream as he looked down at the scene before him. He scrambled back onto his feet and looked around the room looking for something to cover the body because he had no idea what else to do when his eyes landed on the open door. 

 

Before he could think twice, Hux was running, as fast and as far as he could.

 

\---

 

“The man’s broken down! He’s complied to everything we’ve asked! Why can’t we just give him a break?” Poe was the only sentimental one of the group.

 

Kylo tapped at his chin as he looked at the man they had taken from the compound through the two-way mirror, “I don’t know, something doesn’t seem right. Why would he hand over all that information if he’d been loyal to them for so long?”

 

“Because he was kidnapped! Like they did to everyone else in the cult! Were you not listening? He said so about fifty times!” Poe exclaimed from his position at Kylo’s right.

 

“You're just falling for their trap, Poe.” Caesar stated from the door.

 

Poe huffed, “And where have you been?”

 

“They said I wasn’t able to be present for anything because of my past experiences and how I might be  _ bias _ .” she said with a huff of a laugh, “Whether that be for or against, I don’t know.”

 

Poe put his hands on his hips and looked at her with a slight pout, “And what experience is that?”

 

“The eighteen years of her life she spent in a cult herself.” Kylo said matter-of-factly, not looking away from Finn before turning to Caesar, Tell me how to get through to him.

 

“Let me in there.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Absolutely not.”

 

Poe glared at Kylo but he didn’t give even a blink back to him. With another huff, Poe stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest in defeat. Caesar took a little pity on Poe and offered, “I won’t physically hurt him.” but that only seemed to worsen his mood.

 

“I’m taking executive power here.” Kylo said, puffing his chest out slightly, “We need information and fast. My dad is already on my ass about the plane and soon enough he’ll get the mind to put us all on probation and have us watched constantly. If we have any chance at finding Hux-”

 

“ _ And or _ stopping the Resistance.” Caesar interrupted quickly.

 

“-right, that too. Anyway, we have to act now so I’m going to have Caesar goes in there.” Poe made to talk but Kylo raised a hand to stop him. “She’s been through everything he has and more, she can also see right through him and whatever wool he’ll try and pull over anyone’s eyes.”

 

Poe huffed and shook his head but Caesar was already inching out of the room giving everyone a thumbs up before disappearing and leaving them to watch through the double sided mirror into the interrogation room. Both standing there with arms crossed their chest waiting to see what will happen in the next room.

 

\--

 

Finn sat in the room just on the edge of too cold and the metal chair he was sitting in was starting to get rather uncomfortable on his lower back. As he shuffled slightly to try and ease the pain of it, the door to the room clicked open and a strict face woman that he’d through he’d seen before. She moved to sit across from him putting a file down on the table to before looking up at Finn and speaking with a deep resonating voice that both calmed and put him on edge.

 

“Would you like anything to drink? Coffee? Water?” she watched him intently as she waited for him to respond.

 

He shook his head, “No, I’m fine, thank you.” 

 

“Wonderful.” She said with a smile that made Finn’s skin crawl, “I’ll get right into it then.” She opened the folder in front of him, revealing several photos of familiar compounds and people along with the symbol of the resistance. “By the way your reaction to the picture, I’m guessing, you were a little more involved than we first thought.”

 

“Wh-what,” Finn shook his head, “No, no I was kidnapped, I was tortured- you don’t know the kind of stuff I went through.”

 

She looked him straight in the eyes and slowly shook her own head to match him, “That’s where you're wrong, I went there everything you ‘went there’. I gutted through it for 10 years.” She stood then and leaned over the table, getting right in Finn’s face. “I know all the tools and tricks, I know the play dumb act, the gaining trust scheme, I know what you did to my pal back there-” she threw a thumb over her shoulder towards the mirror there, “-And I’m not about to fall for one of your pathetic. Little. Traps.”

 

Falling back into her chair, she scanned over Finn like a predator would its meal. She tossed another folder on the table and flipped it open before pointing out a specific picture. Picking it up to hold it between her middle and pointer finger, she looked over it before turning it to face Finn. 

 

“Do you see what’s in this photo?”

 

Finn leaned in a bit to look at the picture, “A child holding on to uh … there’s lots of blotches I can’t see it all well, maybe a dog?”

 

“It’s me at age nine, the blotches you see are blood and the dog is a wolves head whom I killed after living with him for the first year of my training, his name for Christopher.” She tossed down the photo and pointed to another. It was the same child, a little older, standing among several bodies. “This was my first culling,” she looked up to him with a soft nostalgic smile, “the one after that got me the name Caesar.”

 

“Bu-but we don’t kill for no reason! We’re trying to make the world right again, as God wanted it to be!” Finn started breathing faster, “Capitalism is crippling Mother Earth! If we stop them, we save her!”

 

“Is that really who you're saving, or is your leader just trying to slip their way out of debt.”

 

“NO! Mother Leia would never be so vulgar! She knows God’s plan, she was sent with her brother to see it through -- though the traitor left us, we’re still stronger than any army.” he was panting now, wanting to scream to the high heavens the truth, not the lies that this  _ Caesar _ was spitting. 

 

“Leia who?!”

 

“Leia Organa!” She snapped his mouth shut as soon as the words left his mouth. What had he just done? How could he have given away his Mother? The damn she-devil in front of his had gotten into his mind and messed with him with his vile imagines of death and destruction.

 

Caesar smiled at him something rotten, “Now tell me where the base is located, the main one.”

 

“Never!”

 

She stood so fast he had no time to react until it was struggling against the hand she had wrapped around his throat, “I’ve ripped several tracheas out before, answer the question and wisely.”

 

Finn shuffled through one of the files -- his file -- trying desperately to breathe normally as he found the map and begin rapidly pointing at a spot. Caesar let go of him and moved back to her seat before looking at the map to where Finn was pointing and marked it with a red sharpy. She turned back to him with a pleasant smile after re-capping her marker.

 

“Thank you, now if this leads to nothing or ends up just being trouble, you know any kind of bullshit I don’t want to deal with, I’ll kill you. Myself. Bare hands.”

 

With that, she picked up the map and scooped up all of her files and left the room. Finn sunk back into his chair, exhaustion hitting him like a freight train. What had he just down? Ratted out his whole livelihood. His whole family. All they did was let him in and care for him and now they were being punished for it. He turned his head up to the ceiling at tears pricked at the corners of his eyes.

 

How could he do such a thing?

 

\--

 

“How the hell could you do such a thing?!” Poe screamed at Caesar as she closed the door behind her.

 

“I know, I though all my training at, you know  _ poof _ right out of my mind but nah, it’s still all back there.” She wore a huge smile that unnerved both Kylo and Poe immensely.

 

Kylo shook his head, “I don’t think that’s the way he meant it.”

 

Caesar huffed, “It doesn’t matter what way anyone meant it, I got info out of him, I was supposed to get info out of him, what else do you want from me?”

 

“Did you have to do it so harshly, he’s just a kid-” Caesar cut Poe off by stopping right in front of him, her brow furrowed with rage.

 

“His one of the hive! His mind is not his own anymore, it may never be! Kind words and gentle pats will not get you  _ anything _ but bullshit lies from him. These people, These cults don’t break easy, their not sunshine and rainbows, they’re only purpose is to rip you to shreds and build you back up into what sort of monster they want to make of you.” Caesar stepped back for Poe and looked between him and Kylo. “I got you what you asked for, I’ll be in the training room if you need me.”

 

They both stood and watch after her as she disappeared down the hall. Poe was gobsmacked, in all his years of knowing Caesar he never though her capable of hurting a fly, now she was threatening to rip a man’s throat out and kill him if he so much as lied to her. Kylo literally shook his out of his shock by the shoulder. 

 

“We have what we need for out next mission, lets go prepare for if, she’ll  _ hopefully _ be cooled off enough by then. And, if not, I’m sure no one will be happy to see us.”

 

Poe nodded and followed him into another room. Damn, everything he thought he knew was getting all turned around. Why did it all have to be so confusing? Whatever happened to simple?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright, hey
> 
> you can find me here [FrackenArt](http://frackenart.tumblr.com/) if you want to talk


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